Heart
by Goku's Donut
Summary: A little goes a long way. [Yuushin/Hiyori]
1. Heart

**disclaimer**: I don't own Hiyokoi.  
**notes**: Severely upset that there are only two fics in the archive. This is my first fic for this fandom, but I'm determined to fill it with Yuushin/Hiyori love.

**—-**

Yuushin likes to carry Hiyori. He likes to pick her up beneath her arms and lift her until they're eye level. It's a privilege, he thinks, to be able to do what most struggle to do, because he's so _tall_ and she's so _small_. His upper body is like a key hole that only this tiny, cute, wonderful, and oh-so-much-more girl with the hazel eyes can fill and he loves it and he loves her.

Sometimes, he spins her about, all smiles and laughter while she's a mixture of blush and blabber. It never lasts long - her _blubber_, he teases frequently - because he puts her down before she's given a chance to protest his display of affection, silently glad that he can leave that rosy, permanent stain on her cheeks that she tries too hard to hide behind her baby hands.

**—-**

It hurts to kiss Yuushin. Hiyori has to bend her neck and stand on the very _tip_ of her toes - which doesn't help _at all_ - while this big, gigantic seemingly beautiful boy has to bend _more_ than half his height to close the deal. It is incredibly embarrassing, if not a little disheartening, because in all the tear-jerking, "_sap-filled_" romance films she'd dragged Ritsuka to see with her, lovers meet half-way before they kissed.

The girl isn't supposed to meet a quarter of the way, while the boy fills the other grueling seventy-five percent.

Yuushin never minds. He says it isn't painful.

"And even if it was," he says, smoothing a hand over her bangs to bump heads with her, "it's a good kinda pain."

His gentle reassurance peels away her worries to make room for more oddly angled kisses and hugs and sweet corned lines that makes her toes curl and her ears burn.

**—-**

Hiyori likes to hold hands, but she likes to, quite literally, stuff her hands in his pockets more, he notices one day. One could almost call the gesture a secret. She does it quietly, baby steps going unheard against the crunchy snow on the way to school as she sneaks up from behind, slipping her hand through the gap of his arm and into the folds of his pocket.

He never catches her in the act, always smiles down at her when she gives him her usual morning greeting with the upturned lips (returning it with one of his own, of course), and it isn't until moments later when he's pulling his hands out of his pockets that he feels and spots the curl of her pretty fingers filling the gaps of his wide digits.

Yuushin lifts it, eyebrows drawn low in curiosity as he gives their intertwined hands a gloss over with those expressive cinnamon eyes of his. "When did you do this?"

She never answers him, honey-brown irises twinkling with something akin to mischievousness and affection, as she giggles like the chime of the bell signalling class and shakes her head.

**—-**

Hiyori has a habit of buying her boyfriend too-small things, knowing that he's tall, but not quite knowing just how _tall_ he is. Her a million and one apologies go unheard when Yuushin's pulling on the hat she bought him for Christmas, large ears folding over like an elephant's and messy hair becoming even messier when he points to himself and say, "Does this make my head look big?"

His question makes her stop, forget, and laugh, just like everything he does. She thinks he's silly - never in a bad way and always in a good way - but she doesn't need to know that he does it purposely, if only to see her pretty smile and beaming eyes replace those heartbroken irises and downtrodden lips.

**—-**

Yuushin doesn't like it when Hiyori cuts her hair. He doesn't mind the length either way, because his girlfriend looks cute no matter what she does to her hair. Be it pigtails, ponytails, braids, or buns - he's there to touch it and play in it (sometimes) and compliment it in a heartbeat.

But when she's in her bedroom marking off her calender with a sticky note as a reminder not to miss her appointment next week, he's there to tower over her with his own sticky note, jamming it above her own with his giant fingers. Hiyori isn't quite sure what to make of the picture - it looked like an egg with chicken feet and sausage lips - but she's blushing and ducking her head and curling the ends of her hair around her finger while Yuushin's hiding his own embarrassment in the back of her shirt in a half hug, half hold kinda thing.

"I like your hair."


	2. Fireworks

**notes**: This is in reference to Volume 3, Chapter 11, Pages 36-37. I think I'll do one more short story. Hope you enjoy.

**—-**

Yuushin dreamed of her often - _Hiyori_, he meant; his girlfriend. It was never anything _too_ outrageous; though, he'd be a liar if he said he hadn't had at least _one_ dream about her that bordered on the edge of inappropriate. Then again, dreaming about Hiyori at all felt (_almost_) wrong, in a sense that she was far too innocent to be haunting his sleep, especially with those wide eyes and painted cheeks, alluring smiles and unintended phrases.

It'd been before they'd started dating, back when he thought she was nothing more than his short, cute, chick-like classmate with the increasingly _wonderful_ smiling expression that often sent his heart into a tizzy well before he knew why.

She was taller in his dream, reaching his shoulders with tawny hair that trailed well pass her shoulders and an expression that was much too bold for the timid girl he knew in reality. Unlike the real Hiyori, _this_ "Hiyori" didn't wilt under his gaze. She maintained eye contact. She leaned on his shoulder and ran her fingers through his hair, touched his face and called him by his given name.

_Yuushin_.

It'd sounded so sweet coming from her, all fluffy and bell-like. She'd been about to kiss him then, honey-brown irises never breaking away from his own darker ones. Funny enough, _he'd_ been the one to shut _his_ eyes, body going rigid when she was but a hair's breadth away. He'd _felt_ her breath on his lips, _heard_ the corners of her mouth crease upward, _smelled_ her shampoo whisper through his nose, _saw _the swell of her cheeks as he imagined her imaginary face, _tasted_ the miso on her breath when she said his name.

_Yuushin_.

Sadly, that was as far as his dream had gotten before he was, quite literally, forced out of his sleep by the totally unexpected hold on his nose that was the returnee Reina's fingers.

She'd called his name, voice too overly sugary for his taste and not at all reminiscent of the tone he'd heard less than thirty seconds ago. He ignored Reina's question, dazed with sleep, not having the slightest clue as to what she was referring to, and much too focused on the bashful figure of his imagination near the front of the room. Hiyori hadn't held his gaze like the girl in his dreams had. Yuushin didn't expect her to, after all, but it was in that instant that he yelled out the first thing he'd thought of.

"I want to eat some miso soup!"

No one got the reference, merely laughed off his outburst because it was the norm. That was okay, though. He knew one person that did; although, he doubted _she_ knew how deep his meaning went. On one hand, he truly _did_ want some miso soup - specifically, whatever it was Hiyorin had eaten - but on the other hand, he wanted it in the context of his name from her lips.


	3. Aurora

**note1**: And that concludes "Heart." I might write some more little vignettes of these two in the future, but for now that's all. Thank you for reading and reviewing!

**—-**

Hiyori rolled across the bedspread with her favorite stuffed toy tucked neatly beneath her chin. She blinked her eyes against the darkness pervading her bedroom, but set them on nothing in particular, not even the shoe box she'd filled to the brim with things from the Fireworks Festival she'd attended with Hirose-kun nearly a year ago. It seemed, she thought, jittery with butterflies, that she would be plagued with a restless, sleepless night.

_"Hiyori!" Reina yells, the area trimming her eyes wrinkled in a manner reminiscent of Ricchan whenever she scolds her. "I've got a bone to pick with you!"_

Today had been incredibly… _eventful_, to say the least. Testing had ended, students had _finally_ been given a break away from their hellish schedules and they were almost, if not completely, intent on blowing their time moaning and groaning over their hopes for achievement. Well, some of them, anyway.

_"R-Reina-cha-"_

_"What's the deal with you and Yuushin?" She has her manicured finger poised and ready to jam in Hiyori's confused face as she cuts her off. Hiyori opens her mouth to speak, unspoken words coating in uncertainty at her friend's proclamation, but she's cut off once more when the English-speaking student launches into an angry tirade._

_"Haven't you noticed, like, _at all_?! According to Hirai-kun, Yuushin's been calling you by your nickname since _before_ you two started dating and not once have you called him or even made an _attempt_ to call him by his given name! Why, Yuushin's even the one who came up with "Hiyorin!" Don't you realize the disservice you're doing him?!"_

Now that Hiyori looked back on it, "eventful" seemed improper. Completely and totally _embarrassing_ was much more fitting. Reina-chan hadn't given her a chance to say anything, not even to defend herself; granted, there really were no excuses in her not calling her boyfriend by his given name. Hirose-kun had never seemed bothered by it; though, now that she thought about it, maybe he had been. He just never said anything.

After all, he hadn't let her know of his jealousy towards Kou-kun until the Cultural Fest was nearly over, something she would've been continuously oblivious about had Reina-chan and Natsuki-chan not pointed it out.

The topic was brought up once before, she recalled, when she'd went to the zoo with Hirose-kun, Ricchan, and Kou-kun. She'd been too busy trying to pair up her two best friends to really give Ricchan's words any thought then, overwrought with guilt for angering Kou-kun and almost, if not completely, ignoring her boyfriend.

Fact was, Reina-chan was absolutely, 100% correct. She'd _never_ called or even tried to call Hirose-kun by his given name.

It wasn't as if she'd never wanted to, though. It wasn't as if she'd _never_ thought about it either. Nicknames and given names represented closeness and intimacy. Hiyori liked to think that she was fairly close to her boyfriend, even if kissing - something they'd started doing more often, despite the embarrassment - was the only intimate behavior they'd ever engaged in.

She told him everything and in turn, so did he. They stayed up past curfew - well, _she_ did anyway; Hiyori wasn't so sure Hirose-kun even knew what curfew was - and talked on the phone well into the wee hours of the morning (or until her mother would burst into her bedroom and order her to bed). They held hands on a regular basis. He walked her home everyday when he could. She made him lunch (with Ricchan's help, of course).

They were an honest-to-goodness couple that did regular couple things, except he called her by her nickname - and occasionally her given name - and she… well, she was still getting used to the idea of calling Hirose-kun by his.

_"A… disservice?" Hiyori mimics despairingly as tears threaten to spill past her eyes. _

_"Yes, a disservice." Reina leans back and away from Hiyori, arms folded over her chest. Luckily, Yuushin is away, so speaking on the topic wasn't too much of a big deal; though, the opened eyes, ears and mouths of the rest of the class say otherwise. Reina, though… she doesn't even notice. "When are you planning on calling him "Yuushin?"_

_Hiyori's cheeks brim red with color. "I-I… I want to, b-but…" By then, her eyes are shut tight and her lips are pressed in a thin line, mind overflowing with embarrassment._

_"_But_, what?" Reina harrumphs with a stomp of her foot. "Look, you may as well start practicing now, because sooner or later he's gonna get fed up. I mean, it can't be _that_ hard, can it? If you can call Nitobe-kun "Kou-kun," then I'm _sure_ you can get out of the habit of calling Yuushin "Hirose-kun."_

_Hiyori's gaze is trained on the floor as she ruffles her skirt between her fingers. Her classmates' eyes are trained on her expectantly, voices a combination of encouragement and giggles. For a moment, she says nothing until she wills her lips to form the two-syllable name that sends her heart into turmoil, knowing that Reina was right and wouldn't demand anything less from her._

_"Yuu… Yuushin," she mumbles, eyes shuffling to-and-fro until she settles on sealing them closed tight, the apples of her cheeks a permanent pink._

_"Haaah?" Reina cups a hand over her ear and leans in, eliciting a gasp from her meek, cute-as-a-button friend-rival. "You'll have to speak up if you want him to hear you, Hiyorin!"_

_Hiyori stares at the floor, wide-eyed and flustered, and manages to swallow the butterflies welling up in her throat. Suddenly, she's reminded of the times she'd confessed to Hirose-kun, both at the Fireworks Festival and when he'd, quite literally, chased her through the hallways of school for a proper answer, her emotions overflowing like an overfilled glass of juice. _

_She takes a deep breath and yells, "_Yuushin_!"_

_Everything goes still, now. Hiyori's eyes are glued shut, her fists stark white against her green skirt. She wishes she'd kept her eyes shut, because it wasn't even a minute after she'd opened them that she'd followed the expectant stares of classmates towards the towering object of her affections standing in the doorway of the classroom._

_He's quiet and red in the face. Very, _very_ red. All it took was for Junpei to jab him in the ribs with his elbow, a snicker escaping his lips when Yuushin tries to cover his face, and Hiyori faints, overcome by her emotional breakthrough. _

**—-**

Hiyori shook her head hard, trying to clear it of the memory that'd embedded itself in her head not even twenty-four hours ago. She rolled over so that she was lying on her side now, and curled her arms tighter around the stuffed toy her now-boyfriend had gotten her for Christmas last year.

_Yuushin_, she thought tiredly, pink splaying gently across her cheeks until it colored her ears. Saying his name sent a rumble down her throat and to her chest, where it nestled and bundled for the night, until Hiyori had eventually found herself drifting off to sleep. Perhaps, saying his name would forever remain difficult, hard, and even just plain embarrassing.

But if it meant seeing his smiling, grinning, cheesing face and hearing his oh-so-pleasant thank-yous again and again, she'd say his name a thousand time over.


End file.
